Seat apparatus for vehicle

ABSTRACT

A seat apparatus for a vehicle having a seat cushion on which an occupant is seated, includes a pad forming a seating surface, a cover for covering the pad, a frame positioned below the pad at each side of the seat cushion, relative to a width direction of the seat cushion and including a main body forming a side wall which extends in vertical and longitudinal directions relative to the seat cushion and an aperture formed at the main body, and a retainer attached to an end portion of the cover and retained at a peripheral portion of the aperture for fixing the cover to the frame.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C §119with respect to Japanese Patent Application 2007-013978, filed on Jan.24, 2007, the entire content of which is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a seat apparatus for a vehicle. In particular,the invention relates to a fixing structure for fixing a cover of a seatcushion to a frame.

BACKGROUND

A known cover fixing structure of a seat for a vehicle is disclosed inJP2000-309239A. In the cover fixing structure, a cover member isprovided at a skeletal frame arranged at each side of a seat cushionrelative to a width direction thereof. Further, a cover hooking member,made of a steel wire, is fixed to the cover member for hooking thecover. This structure simplifies operation for hooking an end portion ofthe cover.

On the other hand, in a cover fixing structure of a seat for a vehicledisclosed in JP 2001-197969A, a bracket shaped bead is formed at a lowerend portion of a skeletal frame of a seat cushion for hooking a cover.The bead simplifies fixation of a retainer, on which an end portion ofthe cover is stitched.

However, in JP2000-309239A, the fixation structure, in which the coveris hooked by the cover hooking member extending to a lower end portionof the skeletal frame, is adopted. In the structure, the cover and thelike are disposed below the skeletal frame. Therefore, the structurepotentially causes difficulty in preventing the interference withmembers in vicinity and in securing a predetermined space.

Further, an additional component (cover hooking member), exclusivelyused for hooking the cover, is required. For the reason, the number ofthe components is increased, leading to an increase in the manufacturingcost.

On the other hand, in JP2001-197969A, the fixation structure, in whichthe cover is fixed by fixing the retainer to the lower end portion(bead) of the skeletal frame, is adopted. In the structure, the retainerand the like are disposed below the skeletal frame. Thus, similarly tothe fixation structure disclosed in JP2000-309239A, the structurepotentially causes the difficulty in preventing the interference withmembers in vicinity and in securing a predetermined space.

A need exists for a seat apparatus which is not susceptible to thedrawback mentioned above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, a seat apparatus for avehicle having a seat cushion on which an occupant is seated, includes apad forming a seating surface, a cover for covering the pad, a framepositioned below the pad at each side of the seat cushion, relative to awidth direction of the seat cushion, the frame including a main bodyforming a side wall which extends in vertical and longitudinaldirections relative to the seat cushion and an aperture formed at themain body, and a retainer attached to an end portion of the cover andretained at a peripheral portion of the aperture for fixing the cover tothe frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and additional features and characteristics of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription considered with reference to the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a lower arm;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating a lower arm;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view illustrating a modification of the invention;and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view illustrating a modification of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described withreference to drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a seat (seatapparatus for a vehicle) mounted at a vehicle such as an automobile, onwhich an occupant may be seated. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken alongline II-II of FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a pair of lower rails11, consisting of each lower rail 11 arranged at a side of the seat (inFIG. 1, a left side, relative to a front of the seat, is shown) relativeto a width direction of the seat, is fixed so as to extend in alongitudinal direction of the vehicle with respect to a vehicle floor(not shown). Each of upper rails 12, arranged to form a pair relative tothe width direction of the seat, is mounted on the corresponding lowerrail 11 so as to slide in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.Meanwhile, the longitudinal direction of the vehicle corresponds to alongitudinal direction of the seat, and further, corresponds to alongitudinal direction of a seat cushion 10, which will be described inthe following section.

The lower arms 13, each supported by the corresponding upper rail 12,serve as skeletal frames, which form a pair relative to the widthdirection of the seat. A urethane pad 14 is supported by the lower arms13, and a cover 15 is attached to the urethane pad 14 so as to cover anupper surface and both side surfaces thereof. The seat cushion 10 iscomposed of the pair of lower arms 13, the urethane pad 14, and thecover 15. The pair of lower arms 13 functions as the frame of the seatcushion 10, and the urethane pad 14 forms a seating surface of the seatcushion 10. The pair of lower arms 13 is located below the urethane pad14. More specifically, each lower arm 13 is positioned between the upperrail 12 and the urethane pad 14. The lower arm 13 is formed byalternately bending a vertically arranged plate material inward andoutward relative to the width direction of the seat, and is mainlycomposed of a wall 13 a (main body), which forms a side wall extendingin vertical and longitudinal directions of the seat, respectively. Abead portion (retaining portion) 13 b is continuously formed on an upperend portion of the wall 13 a and is bent so as to extend outwardrelative to the width direction of the seat (left side in FIG. 2). Theurethane pad 14 is mounted on the bead portion 13 b covering the beadportion 13 b from the outward of the seat. Further, a flange portion(connecting portion) 13 c is continuously formed on a lower end portionof the wall 13 a and is bent so as to extend inward relative to thewidth direction of the seat (right side in FIG. 2). The upper rail 12 isfixed to the flange portion 13 c by welding, fastening bolts or thelike, thereby fixing the lower arm 13 to the upper arm 12. However, itis not necessary to fix the flange 13 c to the upper rail 12 directly.The flange 13 c may be fixed to the upper rail 12 via various types oflinks, brackets or the like.

Here, the fixing structure of the cover 15 will be described. Asillustrated in a perspective view of FIG. 3 and a sectional view of FIG.4 respectively, an aperture 16 is formed on the wall 13 a of the lowerarm 13 and extends in the longitudinal direction of the seat. The wall13 a is bored by pressing and the like in a manner that does not affectthe strength of the lower arm 13, thereby appropriately forming theaperture 16 in terms of position, number, and size. The aperture 16 ismeant to reduce weights of the lower arms 13 and the seat cushion 10.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, an end portion 15 a of the cover15 covering the side surfaces of the urethane pad 14 is stitched to aclip 17 which serves as a retainer. The clip 17 is made of a resinmaterial, and a cross section of the clip 17 is formed in a U shape. Theclip 17 is fitted into a peripheral wall 18 (peripheral portion) whichdefines an upper side of an inner circumferential edge surface 16 a ofthe aperture 16, and thereby fixing the cover 15 to the lower arm 17.

As described above, according to the embodiment, the following meritsare obtained. (1) In the embodiment, in order to fix the cover 15, theclip 17, on which the end portion 15 a of the cover 15 is stitched, isfixed to the peripheral wall 18 of the aperture 16 of the lower arm 13.Thus, it is not necessary to provide an additional component, usedexclusively for fixation, at a side of the lower arm 13, thus preventingthe increase in the number of components. Further, the clip 17 is fixedso as to fit in the aperture 16 (the peripheral wall 18) of the lowerarm 13. Hence, the component, the clip 17 in this case, is not disposedbelow the lower arm 13, therefore avoiding the interference with membersin vicinity and securing a predetermined space in this configuration.

(2) In the embodiment, the peripheral wall 18 is an existing componentof the lower arm 13, which defines the inner circumferential edgesurface 16 a of the aperture 16. Accordingly, it is not necessary tochange the form of the lower arm 13, thus preventing the increase in thenumber of man hours.

(3) The existing aperture formed in the lower arm 13 is used as theaperture 16. Thus, the aperture 16 does not affect the strength of thelower arm 13. The embodiment described above may be modified as follows.

As observed in the lower arm 21 illustrated in FIG. 5, a flange(reinforcing portion) 22 may be integrally formed with the lower arm 21by bending a wall 21 a (main body) of the lower arm 21. The flange 22extends inward, relative to the width direction of the seat, along aperiphery of the aperture 16 in the wall 21 a, i.e. the upper side ofthe inner circumferential edge surface 16 a of the aperture 16. Theflange 22 is easily formed when forming the aperture 16 by a processingsuch as pressing (cutting processing). In this case, the cover 15 isfixed to the lower arm 21 by clipping the flange 22 with the clip 17.This modification provides another merit in addition to merit (1) and(3) according to the first embodiment. That is, the flange 22 isintegrally formed with the lower arm 21 along the periphery of theaperture 16, thereby improving stiffness of the lower arm 21 againstflexural load.

Alternatively, as observed in the lower arm 23 shown in FIG. 6, a bead(reinforcing portion) 24 may be integrally formed with the lower arm 23by bending a wall 23 a (main body) of the lower arm 23. The bead 24 iscurved inward, relative to the width direction of the seat, along theperiphery of the aperture 16 in the wall 23 a, i.e. the upper side ofthe inner circumferential edge surface 16 a of the aperture 16. The bead24 may be formed easily when forming the aperture 16 by the processingsuch as the pressing. In this case, the end portion 15 a of the cover 15is stitched on a hook shaped retainer, which is made of resin, forexample. Thus, the cover 15 is easily fixed to the lower arm 23 byattaching the hook shaped retainer to the portion covering from theinner circumferential edge surface of the aperture 16 to the bead 24.This modification provides another merit in addition to merit (1) and(3) according to the first embodiment. That is, the bead 24 isintegrally formed with the lower arm 23 along the periphery of theaperture 16, thereby improving stiffness of the lower arm 23 against theflexural load.

In the retainer such as the clip 17, the main portion thereof should beformed with metal such as stainless steel or rigid plastic. However, inthis type of retainer, a stitched portion on which the end portion 15 ais stitched should be formed by a flexible plastic.

The principles, of the preferred embodiments and mode of operation ofthe present invention have been described in the foregoingspecification. However, the invention, which is intended to beprotected, is not to be construed as limited to the particularembodiment disclosed. Further, the embodiment described herein are to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Variations and changesmay be made by others, and equivalents employed, without departing fromthe spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, it is expresslyintended that all such variations, changes and equivalents that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in theclaims, be embraced thereby.

1. A seat apparatus for a vehicle having a seat cushion on which anoccupant is seated, comprising: a pad forming a seating surface; a coverfor covering the pad; a frame positioned below the pad at each side ofthe seat cushion, relative to a width direction of the seat cushion, theframe including a main body forming a side wall which extends invertical and longitudinal directions relative to the seat cushion and anaperture formed at the main body; and a retainer attached to an endportion of the cover and retained at a peripheral portion of theaperture for fixing the cover to the frame.
 2. A seat apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the peripheral portion of the apertureincludes an inner circumferential edge surface defining the aperture. 3.A seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the frame has areinforcing portion formed by bending the main body, and the reinforcingportion extends inward, relative to the width direction of the seatapparatus, along the inner circumferential edge surface of the aperture.4. A seat apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a retaining portion isintegrally formed with the frame by bending a continuous area from anupper end portion of the main body, and wherein the pad is mounted onthe retaining portion.
 5. A seat apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a lower rail adapted to be mounted on a vehicle floor; andan upper rail supported by the lower rail so as to slide in thelongitudinal direction of the seat cushion, wherein a connecting portionis integrally formed with the frame by bending a continuous area from alower end portion of the main body, and the connecting portion isconnected to the upper rail.